Page 93 of Playing My Rivals

It relieves me that she's trying to bring some humor to the situation. It tells me she’s not about to break.

“You don’t know how happy that makes me. I’d die if you were hurt.” He pauses and I think he’s done talking, but boy am I wrong. “Now that I know you’re okay, I have to ask. Did you sleep with him?”

Oh, fuck.

He must have said that to catch her off guard. But enough about that. I need to hear the answer. I need her to show me I can trust her with my heart. Her answer will tell me everything I need to know.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

She must take a full minute to respond.

“I did.”

Great answer, Dori.

Take that, Hunter.

“But Hunter. Not in the way you think I did. Not like that.” Record scratch. What?

Her first answer is the one I want to stay focused on, but she just blatantly lied. And on top of that, she did it with me sitting next to her.

Trust. Gone.

Last night. Gone.

My future with Dori. Gone.

And just like that, the steel beam takes another swing and crashes into my face. With the shock of the blow, my life, my world, and everything I want are smashed to pieces.

CHAPTER 22

DORI

The tension in the car is enough to kill a person. Jami has to know this is Hunter on the phone. I just hope he can’t hear what we’re talking about.

I lied about being with Jami, but there’s no way I’m going to tell Hunter about my night with Jami right now. No way. Not gonna happen. I need to tell him in person, not over the phone. Hopefully, Jami will understand once I explain.

“You don’t know how happy you just made me.” Hunter pauses and takes a deep breath. “You know I love you. I’m going to take a risk and ask, do you still love me?”

My eyes shut and waves of guilt pulse over my heart. “You know I do.”

“Just making sure.” His vulnerability stabs me in the gut.

I end the call with him as fast as I can. It takes me a few beats to face Jami. It’s like moving in drying concrete, but I manage to turn to him.

His head rests on the back of the seat. He’s slouched with his arms by his sides and his legs stretched out, looking like someone just shot him.

“That was Hunter.”

“Never would’ve guessed.” Jami’s blue eyes are covered in darkness.

They’re not tearing me apart like I would expect if he heard our conversation. If anything, there’s apathy flowing from them. Like, “So what if you have someone else to consider? It makes no difference to me,” kind of apathy.

I try to avoid my shame. “Why did you make me take the call? You knew I didn’t want to.”

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